Chapter 6

Grown Up

September 14th, 1993

Wendy was starting to feel it in her legs and feet. It was typical of trainers to take a multi-day break from distance-walking after two weeks of travel, whereas she was coming up on three straight. From Goldenrod, she had taken the Loop counter-clockwise (again), taken the Route 36 Fork north to Ecruteak, gone east as far as Mahogany, then turned around and passed Ecruteak again en route to Olivine City—her current destination. Each time she stopped at a Pokémon Center, she left another copy of her first, short letter to Aaron. He had to see one of them eventually.

The sun was getting low, but she had a stopping place in mind for the evening, so she kept up the pace. Then, as had happened so often for more than a month now, she clapped her hand to her forehead and muttered, "Stupid, stupid, stupid." What troubled her was how she had somehow failed to include any follow-up questions in her last letter to Luke. Every time she'd meant to ask one while writing, she'd worried she was being too pushy and changed her mind. When the letter was done, she could have sworn she'd remembered to ask one. She didn't realize it until after she dropped it off.

She knew he wouldn't decide not to write back simply because there were no questions to answer. They'd had enough back-and-forth to count as pen-pals by now, surely? And even though there had been no reply waiting for her in Violet City, he might not even have gotten back yet, not if he was really committed to finding those green Doduo.

Still, something troubled her. By going so out of her way to reply quickly and in great depth, it was possible—not likely, just possible—she had scared him off. Despite the friendly words in his replies so far, even she had pieced together that he was hardly interested in sitting down and talking about everything past, present, and future over coffee.

Well, soda, she said in her head, seeing as I don't drink coffee yet. Does Luke drink coffee?

She shook her head vigorously in an attempt to drive these thoughts away. "A watched pot never boils," she said aloud. It didn't help to fret over what she might have done or written differently. All she could do now was trust him to write back when he could and would, end of story.

But if I already pushed him too hard…

Just then, a familiar fork in the trail mercifully brought her mind away from her recent possible screw-ups. She took the right turn to the fainter path leading uphill, passing a weather-worn sign that read:

Rt. 38 Pokémon Gym
Open use tue-sat, dawn to midnight
Spectator fee 50p open days, 100p tournaments
See fieldhouse for tournament schedule and eligibility
PROVIDING ALCOHOL TO MINORS IS A FELONY

The (court-ordered) last line was on a newer plank of wood. It couldn't have been replaced all that long ago, since nobody had yet covered over the words "A FELONY" with "ONLY POLITE" or similar.

The Route 38 Pokémon Gym didn't particularly stand out from other outdoor, minor-league gyms—it was rather mundane in its modest sketchiness—but its location was convenient, being only a short walk from the main trail about thirteen miles out from Ecruteak city limits. Wendy usually stopped there on her way to Olivine to meet other kids and spectate a few battles. These days in particular, it helped her feel like a real trainer for a change.

When Wendy crested the hill and emerged from the trees, the lights were already on, and the bleachers held a not-quite-sparse crowd watching (or half-watching) a battle on the dirt arena. A Xatu belonging to a man in his thirties was making quick work of some kid's overmatched Octillery.

Wendy paid her fifty Pyen to the man at the foot of the stands, then climbed to the tenth and top row. She stepped down a row when she didn't like the way the highest board creaked, then surveyed the attendees. None of them looked to be her own age tonight. Aside from the younger trainers, there were a few parents and grandparents with distracted toddlers, as well as the always-present drinking-and-gambling set, mostly men. They were clustered around a few coolers.

Wendy did spot a quiet trio of girls sitting a few rows down who looked like they could use some company, so she approached them.

"Heya!"

The girls said hi and hey back to her. Then she asked them, "You all fight yet?"

They shook their heads. "The adults are too tough, tonight," said one.

Even as she said it, the Xatu finished off the Octillery with one last Psybeam. A mix of mild cheers and boos came from the rest of the crowd. Traditionally, when an adult beat a kid-trainer, most of the cheers came from the drinkers-and-gamblers who'd picked right.

"I'm Wendy, by the way. Names and Badges?"

"I'm Alice. We all got two: Violet and Azalea."

"I'm Gabriella."

"Dolly. You got all eight?"

"Just seven," said Wendy with a smile. "It's enough for me."

As she grilled the girls all about their teams and their recent itinerary, the man with the Xatu took on another trainer. It was a simple one-on-one affair, this time against a Flaafy. An Electric sheep was a good choice against a Psychic bird.

The battle proceeded nothing like the conventional wisdom would suggest. Right from the outset, the Xatu set a Light Screen in place strong enough to be nearly opaque. This reduced the Flaafy's opening Thunder Shock to little more than static electricity. The Xatu then took to the air and stayed there, reducing the risk from basic attacks to nil. Its Psybeams hit much harder than the opposing Electric-type attacks, and soon the match appeared out of reach for the young trainer.

The gears turned in Wendy's head as her attention strayed from the girls' current story. Even though she rarely gave a thought to battling these days, she couldn't ignore the enticing holes in a one-trick-Ponyta strategy. A toothy grin spread over her face.

"I think it was a Misdreavus," Gabriella was saying when Wendy decided she had to interrupt her, "but Alice—"

"Hey, sorry, you said you got a Hitmontop?"

"Huh?" said Gabriella, "Uh, yeah. My others are too worn out from today."

Wendy knew the other two girls would have an easier time beating this complacent scrub of a grownup, but she couldn't help it. She wanted this to be spectacular. "Is she quick?"

"Sure."

Excellent. "Does she know Detect and High Jump Kick?"

Gabriella grew apprehensive. "…Yeeeeaah?"

Perfect. "You're up next. Put 'er in."

Gabriella was speechless. Dolly, however, was neither speechless nor impressed. "Do you really have seven Badges? Fighting's double-weak against Psychic-Flying."

"Doesn't matter," said Wendy. "Not as long as she can keep from getting hit for a few minutes."

"What do you mean?" asked Alice, with a touch more curiosity than doubt in her voice.

"This guy's going all-in on a defensive strategy that can't win a war of attrition. Take a close look at Xatu. He's barely taken any real hits, but he's already flagging."

The bird's angular wings were indeed flapping slower than before. There was no trouble discerning the painterly lines of color on its feathers.

"There's a reason bird Pokémon don't stick to the air for a whole battle unless you tell them to. Hovering around an enemy is much, much harder than flying in a straight line. And even if he's crazy-good at Light Screen, it's only wearing him out faster. If this kid knew to stall, this wouldn't be a contest."

"Won't Xatu's trainer adjust if he gets too tired?" asked Dolly. It was a good question, and if they'd been talking about a kid-trainer, it would have been the right question.

"He won't," said Wendy. "This guy's no serious trainer. He's just doing this on autopilot to make some drinking money. Won't even notice what's wrong till it's too late." She clapped a hand to her candidate's shoulder. "You got this, Gabriella."

Gabriella and the others considered this in silence as the battle concluded to more cheers and boos. "We can go all night!" the Xatu's trainer jeered at his buddies. The coins he accepted from the kid trainer were a token formality, of course. He was in it for his bets with fellow adults. Wendy noticed him administer a Potion to his Xatu that wouldn't help with fatigue nearly as much as he probably thought it would.

"I dunno…" said Gabriella.

"I'll cover your payout if you lose," said Wendy, taking out her wallet.

All three girls' eyes widened. Wendy knew the math would be hard to resist. Get an adult's payout with a win and come out even with a loss?

"Who's up next!" called the man to the bleachers.

To Wendy's delight, Gabriella stood up and raised her arm.

The man clapped his hands. "Hey, all right!"

At least he was a friendly dope, Wendy decided, her knees bouncing in anticipation.

Gabriella walked to her end of the oval. Neither her voice nor her body language screamed "confidence" when she tossed out her Poké Ball. "Go, Heidi!"

There came a few groans and a few laughs from the crowd at the sight. More laughs followed when one of the grandpas barked out a bet of two thousand Pyen on Gabriella in the direction of the drinkers. As they repeatedly told the old man they weren't joking about the money, Gabriella whispered something in Heidi's ear.

There you go, thought Wendy. Give her the plan, get her on board, then execute.

The battle began. Just as Wendy had counted on, the Xatu took to the air at once. Idiot, she couldn't help thinking. Heidi, meanwhile, got her feet moving in place and stayed alert. She had the classic Detect look in her eyes.

"Psybeam!"

Heidi snapped away from where the beam landed as if she'd seen the future, then at once took to her head and began to spin. The Xatu was slow in responding to the second command for a Psybeam, and missed again as he failed to account for Heidi's acceleration. A third miss followed when Heidi started switching up her direction, maintaining a remarkable amount of speed even as she turned on a dime.

"Yeah!" cheered Wendy, "That's the way!"

Next, Gabriella called out, "Detect!" Wendy sucked in a breath. She had somehow failed to consider it, but everything hinged on Heidi being able to pull off this maneuver while spinning.

The adult trainer hesitated, no doubt considering whether his next move would be a wasted one. But with every second working against him, finally he called for yet another Psybeam.

Heidi flipped away and back onto her spinning head with the impossible anticipation of a successful Detect as the beam again struck nothing but dirt. Wendy hooted and pumped her fist. Heidi was a Hitmontop's Hitmontop: immune to dizziness. This was going to work.

Gabriella's growing belief began to show in her posture. At the sight of it, an uncanny impression swept over Wendy. She was looking at herself. Not now, but four years ago, when she first came here. She was right there, standing in that girl's shoes. The overconfident adult was there. The cheering kids, all having her back, were there too.

She found herself scanning more of the crowd, not expecting but wanting to expect to see Aaron shouting his encouragement. She looked at the edge of the arena where Luke should be, his camera tracking the dueling Pokémon.

And when, every so often, her gaze would flit away from the battle at hand, she'd see— not every time, but some of the time—the lens pointed at her.

But no. Not at her, now. At Gabriella. She didn't look enough like Wendy at that age to fool her—not really. Wendy shook her head as if to wake herself. Then she realized the critical point of the battle was almost here, and enthusiasm dispelled whatever had caught her mood for a minute.

"Go Heidi, go!"

The Xatu struggled to stay aloft, while Heidi moved as fast as ever, having only been grazed once this entire time. When her path took her directly beneath the opponent, Gabriella seized the moment. "High Jump Kick!"

In an instant, Heidi was off her head, on her feet, and springing into the air. She could have been a Hitmonlee with that jump. Her right leg whipped around as she pulled with her whole body, and the Xatu took the full kick square on the forehead. Double type-resistance or no, he crashed to the dirt before Heidi landed at a safe distance. The crowd erupted.

Gabriella didn't miss a beat. "Rapid Spin!"

Wendy knew she could count on a Hitmontop-trainer to know how to end it. Psychics may be naturals at reading and adjusting to precise martial attacks, but brainpower was no help against pure kinetic energy. The exhausted Xatu had no answer for Heidi's revolving bombardment of blows. His trainer's desperate call for a Reflect was too little, too late.

Seconds later: "Okay, he's down! We give!"

Alice and Dolly shrieked with joy and ran out to celebrate with their friend and her Pokémon. It filled Wendy to the brim seeing them jump up and down at the "impossible" upset. She got up to join them.

She stopped.

Something in the back of her head told her this was their moment, not hers. Even as she felt she could see a younger Wendy where Gabriella stood, she couldn't picture an older Wendy crossing the distance from here to there to join them. It was strange: Usually, hanging around other trainers and watching battles make her feel more like a kid still, not less.

When she realized what was different this time, she gulped. Upon spotting a winnable battle, she hadn't just handed it off to a kid: She'd offered to subsidize her for it, like a kindly patron of the rising generation of Pokémon trainers, content to share, observe, and remember.

In that moment, she felt more like Gabriella's aunt than like Gabriella herself.

Three days later, Wendy was still in a slight funk, but the view of Goldenrod Bay from the top of Olivine City made it hard to feel the symptoms of a funk. It was two in the afternoon, with the sun high and bright over the dazzling water. She walked down the cobblestone streets toward the southern docks. Olivine was built on a slope such that the bay dominated every sightline unless you stood directly behind a building, none of which were tall save the towering lighthouse. There was a slight chill in the salt breeze: The autumnal equinox was right around the corner.

When she was a block away from the bottom of the street, she turned for the Pokémon Center. She had the copy of her letter to Aaron to deliver, even though if he hadn't picked up one of them by now, he was probably wandering about Kanto or something and wouldn't get this one either. In any event, she was here, the envelope was sealed, and her muscle memory made it difficult to walk to any other building when she first entered a town. She stepped through the automatic doors and got in line.

When it was her turn, she placed the envelope on the counter along with Sharpy's Poké Ball and her ID. "I'd like to leave a letter here for someone, in case he comes through. Aaron Barlow."

"Not a problem," said the nurse, taking the letter before reciting the usual spiel.

"Oh." The nurse suddenly interrupted herself. Wendy's heart skipped a beat, knowing by now what was coming. "'Wendy Merrick?' There's already a letter for you. Your friend must have gotten here first." She handed it to Wendy. This one felt heavier than usual.

"Thank you very much." Her name was in Luke's handwriting. A stupid smile came over her face.

"Would you still like me to keep this one?"

"Huh? Oh, yes please." There was no need to clarify the actual number of her correspondents in the mix. When Sharpy's perfunctory checkup was complete, Wendy left the Center and walked the short distance to the docks to read.

She found a wrought-iron bench facing the water and sat down, letting out a deep sigh of relief. She had not frightened Luke away for good after all. Without further ado, her eager fingers opened the seal, but then they froze. There was a thick, white, lineless sheet in addition to the notebook paper. Anticipation mounted within her as she realized this was what she hadn't dared to ask of him: a photo. She pulled it out carefully by the edge and turned it around to see what it was.

She gasped.

It was a valley. And not just any valley, but one of Wendy's very favorites in all of Johto, even though she had never told anyone this, nor felt confident in her ability to describe why it was. But here was the very thing in black and white.

In the lower-right foreground, atop one of the ridges flanking the valley, there stood a row of conifers silhouetted against a low, white, crawling cloud, itself framed just so by the trees of the next ridge down. The outlines of a family of Aipom were perfectly visible in the closest treetops: stark shadows on brilliant pearl. They seemed to gaze at the valley beyond just as the cameraman did. In the valley itself, there were two lovely little cabins in the lone clearing amid the trees. The far ridges were draped, but not obscured, by more of the crawling clouds.

Luke must have climbed a tree at the exact right time on the absolute ideal day to take this picture. It was every little thing she had seen and remembered individually of this quiet, precious place at the foot of the mountains north and east of Cherrygrove, all together in one little rectangle.

And he'd given it to her.

Feeling she was in a dream, she tucked the photo safely back into the envelope and unfolded the letter.

September 7th, 1993

Dear Wendy,

I definitely get what you're talking about with being ready to move on. Whenever I walk into a Pokécenter and everyone's younger than me except the staff, it's like, "What am I doing here?" At the same time, I know I'm going to miss the freedom that comes with still technically being an underage trainer. You know, having license to spend all your time wandering around, getting a food stipend, etc. Seems like nobody realizes what a good deal it is till it's almost over. So as much I want to go pro, I do also want to get as much as I can out of what I've got going now.

I'm very glad to hear you're still on speaking terms with Nadine. I know that wound festered for a long time, even when it didn't show. I don't blame you for second-guessing now, but I still don't blame you for the choice you made back then in letting her go, either. You had no easy options, and you did what you thought was best for her. So even if you got it wrong (and that's if), there's no shame in it, especially seeing as we were only ten, so I hope you don't beat yourself up over it. And who's to say it's permanent? It wouldn't surprise me if down the road you end up even better friends than you were growing up, if life obliges.

As for the thanks, I didn't know how much I needed to hear that, but I really did. So, thank you too.

Anyway, enclosed is a picture I took on the way back from Tohjo Falls. I hope it makes up for the absence of a color picture of a green Doduo, all of whom were successful in avoiding me. This one seemed to me like one you'd like, though, and I thought it came out nice, so here it is. Another print of the same's going in my portfolio, so don't worry about holding onto yours.

I'm going to hitch a ride to the Whirl Islands tomorrow, and decide where next after that. Maybe Ilex, maybe the Natl. Park. Hope to hear from you again if/when you get this, and sorry for dropping it off this far away from your last one.

Sincerely,
Luke

Wendy read the letter five more times from start to finish. Then she tried to remember everything in their earlier letters in sequence, as if this were just a normal conversation they were having over the course of ten minutes instead of three months. She wanted to nod, laugh, listen, interrupt… not just read.

What mattered most to her, though, was that she hadn't lost him again. She figured she could live with the time and the distance as long as she knew that.

"Wendy?"

She thought she recognized the voice, but ruled it out as impossible. Then she lifted her head, and her eyes moved past the woman's nice clothes and up to her face, where they stuck. For a split second, Wendy's brain said it wasn't her after all, but it changed its mind. The sense of coincidence amounted nearly to vertigo.

"…Nadine?"

It came out as a question. More an "I didn't expect in a million years to run into you right here and now" question than an "I wasn't sure I recognized you" question, though much about Nadine had changed. What struck Wendy first was her outfit. The top was intricate, lacy, flattering… everything that would make you leave it at home if you were going hiking in the woods. It was a similar story with the long skirt and classy sandals. Clothing aside, she had grown, too. She was taller, her facial features were more defined, and she'd let her hair grow out.

Frankly, she was gorgeous. And most of all…

She looks like an adult.

There were too many things Wendy wanted to say about Nadine's new appearance to pick one. She was getting terribly close to letting this develop into an awkward silence. But then, she noticed the fuzzy little paws poking around from behind her oldest friend's feet.

Wendy half-rose and leaned over to see. As soon as she did see, any previous danger of an awkward silence was moot. The ice didn't so much break as evaporate.

"Oh. My. Gaaaaahhd! He evolved!"

Since Nadine stepped out of the way, Wendy didn't have to worry about bowling her over to get at Quincy. The Furret, pleased to see her, let out a friendly squeak, and kindly subjected himself to the hug and subsequent inspection of his pointy ears and long, silky tail.

"Oh, he's simply wonderful!"

Nadine laughed. "Thanks! He gets that a lot! Now, I hope you'll let me see Sharpy…"

Wendy held out Sharpy's ball without taking her eyes off Quincy. "Yeah, sure, keep 'er."

"Oh no," said Nadine, laughing even harder. "Don't even joke about that!"

When she came out of her ball, Sharpy sang in delight to see Nadine. Back before their journey began, they had made a point to get Wendy's shy Clefairy well-socialized with her travelling companions to-be. It was good to see it still stuck.

There was no need to ask why it had taken Quincy so long to evolve from a Sentret. Ever since Nadine went home, he'd been living as a pet, and consequently was slower in growing than even a wild Sentret.

"I've been looking forward to this for like, ever," said Wendy, running her fingers over Quincy's tail again. "So, what are you doing out here?"

"I'm here most Fridays," said Nadine. "I don't have any lectures today, and the library's bigger here, so I come over to do research."

Wendy had forgotten the news from her mom that Nadine got accepted to school a year early. "That's a lotta time on the ferry."

"Yeah, but I read, and it's nice to get out." She shifted her weight and looked away for a second, but only a second. "We've got a lot to catch up on. You want to go get coffee?"

Coffee.

"Uh, heh-heh," stammered Wendy. "Is soda okay?"

They ended up getting milkshakes. More than being a compromise, it only made sense to go with dairy when in Olivine, near as it was to the best Miltank farms in Johto. They stayed and talked well after their glasses were empty, not least because Wendy's calves were really catching up to her after so many weeks of walking in a row.

"How many miles do you usually go in a day now?" Nadine had asked at one point.

"'Bout twelve. Give or take."

Nadine could only whistle at that.

Mostly, they talked about Nadine's new scholastic career, rather than Pokémon training. She was majoring in linguistics, and she went into detail on the topics this entailed, including the Great Vowel Shift, voiced and un-voiced consonants, the International Phonetic Alphabet, subject-verb-object order vs. subject-object-verb order, and more besides. When Wendy made the woundingly predictable joke that it was "all Greek" to her, Nadine was polite enough to chuckle.

Looking at her, hearing about her, Wendy couldn't help but compare herself to Nadine. For all the prospect of moving on from childhood had been on her mind of late, she hadn't taken anything like the leap Nadine had. Next to her, Wendy felt like she'd overslept for a year and shown up for this reunion under-dressed, under-learned, under-cultured…

Wendy found herself jarred from this line of thought when Nadine described one classmate in particular and grew suspiciously careful in her word choice until finally:

"So… you could say… we're…"

Wendy's eyes nearly bulged out of her head. "…You've got a boyfriend?"

Nadine raised a finger. "We haven't said that yet."

She must have known this was no way to downplay the news for a rabid audience. "'Yet?'"

Poor Nadine was bright red at this point, but she was smiling. Wendy, by contrast, was downright ecstatic.

"Well, come on, tell me everything about him!"

Even "everything" about Mike might not have satisfied Wendy's curiosity, but Nadine gave her a proper rundown. He was sixteen ("Sixteen!" echoed Wendy), had come to Cianwood to study medicine, and had met Nadine in their mandatory mathematics course. They happened to have the same idea of going to the library in Olivine one Friday, then on another, after which it became something they did together on the regular. So, they talked a lot, and before she knew it…

"This is so you. It's perfect. So where is he right now?" Wendy looked around as if Mike might be hiding under another table.

"He's at home in Ecruteak. Big celebration for his great-grandma's hundredth birthday. Lucky for him he missed the interrogation!"

"Being a good family member is a nice sign… Yes, I'd say he's checking out so far." Wendy nodded in an unmerited show of sage-ness. "Now, here's the real question: What do you like about him? Like, like-like?"

Nadine drummed her fingers on the table and took a long, slow breath before venturing to answer. "Well, he's really kind, of course, but mostly… I guess it's the way he makes me feel like I'm… smart, funny, and… pretty."

Mike was getting flying colors at this rate. Wendy felt great confidence in how the rest of the interrogation would go.

At length, it came time for Nadine to walk back to the ferry. Wendy insisted on accompanying her—moreover, she insisted she carry Quincy as they strolled along, even though he was big enough that she needed to crane her neck to drape his front paws over her shoulder.

"You're sure?" Nadine had asked, "You shouldn't push yourself if you're worn out."

"Not at all," Wendy had said. "I'm fine, and this is why I wanted a Furret in our crew from the beginning." She nuzzled Quincy's fuzzy face, and he nuzzled her right back.

As they walked, the topic of conversation shifted from Nadine to Wendy, and then, inevitably, to the letters.

"That's really great about Luke," Nadine said after Wendy had gotten through the gist of things. "I only heard what my folks heard about the whole thing with… you know. Really didn't line up with what I remembered about him. Not that I knew him that well, but… what I heard was hard to believe."

"Yeah. I still don't understand what happened. Really, it makes less and less sense the more I hear from him and the more I try to think about it. I'm hoping if Aaron finally writes back, I can actually figure it out and maybe we can all get past it."

"Hmm." Nadine looked off in the distance for a while before she spoke again. "So, I probably shouldn't speculate about Luke, cause it was only a few months and we were little kids, but…"

"No, no, go for it. Can't hurt."

Nadine rubbed the back of her head. "I… can see how someone might explode if they tried to bottle down a lot of pressure for a long time. That's… that's why in hindsight I think it was probably for the best I quit when I did."

Wendy swallowed, but made an effort to keep a neutral face. They had never talked about this. She could only imagine how difficult it was for her.

Nadine continued. "Not that I know whether Luke was dealing with that kind of pressure or not… You know I'm only guessing. But I know I felt a lot of pressure from Aaron, and—"

She cut herself off, but recovered and clarified before Wendy asked her to.

"I mean, pressure from how good at training and battling he was. …And from how good you were too, not just Aaron. My Pokémon and I just weren't at that level and… it wore on me fast. I don't know how I would have dealt with pushing for the Tournament like he does every year."

This was a lot for Wendy to process. She found herself brushing Quincy's tail for comfort.

There was no question she would have tried to convince Nadine to stay on the trail if she'd known this was the problem. She would have declared that "pact" to get all eight Badges void on the spot if it would have lowered the stakes and kept Nadine with them. Or she would have helped Nadine find some other goal she was the best at—anything.

She didn't say it, though. This didn't feel like the time to stick what-ifs or shouldas into the wound. Instead, she asked another question as it occurred to her.

"Have you talked to Aaron since Luke—uh, since the fight?"

"No. No, I uh…" she looked away again. "I haven't actually talked to him since I stopped training."

Wendy blinked. More than being hard to process, this revelation struck her as plain odd. She knew Aaron had been home several times since then, and hadn't Nadine talked to her a few times when she went home? Only briefly, somewhat awkwardly, and in no real depth, granted, but not at all with Aaron? If Wendy and Aaron both had been the source of the problem, what was this discrepancy? Maybe Aaron was avoiding all his old friends. Or could it be that Nadine, like Luke… couldn't stand to talk to Aaron? Was there more to this?

She pumped the brakes on this line of thought. By Nadine's own admission, Aaron had been a passive influence on whatever had been going through her head at the time. That couldn't have been the case with Luke's head, which made the situations categorically different. All it meant was that it was even more important she get in touch with Aaron and learn how he saw things. If it took long enough, she might have to go to Mr. or Mrs. Barlow as a last-resort intermediary.

They were coming up on the ferry when Nadine's mood suddenly brightened. "Hey, why don't you come home, too? We can hang out more over the weekend, and maybe later you can meet Mike."

Wendy's own cloud lifted at once, and she almost said yes right away before she caught herself. Instead, she bent over to let Quincy down and asked, "Can I meet you there tonight? I need to write a letter, first."

"I can wait for the late ferry," said Nadine. Then, with a wink, she added, "Don't worry. I won't read over your shoulder."